Pernstejn Castle

Pernstejn grew by accretion. A Gothic core on a rock ridge was extended and re-extended by the family that took its name from the place, and later owners added Renaissance detail without knocking the old work down, so the result is a tall, pale, irregular pile of towers, bays and bridges rather than a designed composition. Covered wooden walkways run between parts of it at height, and the interiors move from bare vaulted rooms to panelled libraries. It was never taken by siege, which is part of why so much medieval fabric survives here. The castle stands above the meeting of two river valleys in wooded hills, with formal terraces cut into the slope below the walls.

History

Pernštejn was founded by the Lords of Medlov, probably between 1270 and 1285, and the branch of the family seated here took the then fashionable name Pernštejn, from the German Bärenstein, "Bear Rock". It was built on a rock protected by steep slopes on three sides and reachable only from the north along a rising ridge, and the core of the castle was the round, five-storey Barborka Tower, the palace and a walled courtyard, with a pool fed by an unfailing spring in the rock; later extensions covered these parts, and only the Barborka still rises above them. Little is recorded of the castle in the troubled years after the Přemyslid dynasty died out in 1306, and its great period came in the last quarter of the 14th century and the 15th. The Pernštejns, by then the richest and most powerful lordly family of the kingdom, finished it in its Gothic and Renaissance form in the first half of the 16th century, and it has kept that appearance; it is called the marble castle after the marble-like stone that frames its doors and windows (Wikipedia, Pernštejn Castle).

What to look for

• The linked towers - covered walkways and bridges connecting parts of the castle at height.
• The Gothic interiors - vaulted halls and stairs left largely without later remodelling.
• The library - the panelled room shown on the longer guided route.
• The terraced gardens - formal levels cut into the wooded slope below the walls.

When to go

May to September, when the longer tour routes and the gardens are open; winter opening drops to weekends or closes entirely. Tours are timed and small, and summer weekends sell out by midday, so book or arrive early. The walk up from Nedvedice station takes about half an hour, uphill the whole way.

Good to know

Access is by guided tour only, in Czech unless an English group has been arranged, and the routes are long. Parts of the castle have been under restoration for years following fire damage, so sections may be closed without warning. The approach road is narrow and parking is limited on busy days.

Nearby

The Vir reservoir lies upstream in the same valley, and Brno is under an hour to the south.

Key facts